Branding presentation for Capitol Bancorp

School of MarketingPart III: Marketing

Identity & BrandingDecember 16, 2008

Marketing Identity & Branding, Niki Voyatzis

The first use of a brand was just that – a mark of ownership on cattle.

Branding has evolved to become the name, term, design, symbol or other feature that distinguishes products and services from competitive offerings.

What is Corporate Identity and Branding?


Why is Branding Important?

Managing your brand using consistent names, logos, messaging, slogans, and design schemes for your products and services will help differentiate you from the rest and increase your perceived value.

Beyond that, your corporate identity and branding defines the “personality” of your business and includes your consumers’ experience with your service and products.

In community banking, you cannot always differentiate yourself on the basis of banking products and technology - many of these factors may be similar among your competitors.



Fundamentally a brand is created toestablish and increase customer

loyalty with products and services.


Why is Branding Important? Managing your brand is the difference between:

a cup of coffee and Starbucks.

an mp3 player and an iPod.



a community bank and your community bank.


A Good Brand Should… be legally protectable be attention-grabbing be easy to remember be easy to recognize suggest benefits to

consumer distinguish positioning suggest an image

Can you identify these logos?

What other ideas do you associate with these brands?

Do these brands fulfill the criteria of being a good

brand?


Types of Brands Premium Brand

better quality, better service, exclusive

Economy Brandcompetitive prices

Fighting Brandcompetitive product or market

Family Brandniche divisions of a large national brands

Which Brand Type best describes your community bank?


Challenges in Creating Your Identity

Creating financial objectivesHow does developing your brand fit into your budget?

Focusing on short-term goals vs. long-term branding Special offers and short term solutions may yield profits, but how do they develop your bank’s image?

Lack of informationHow can you learn the most about your competitors, the market, and marketing in general?


Challenges in Creating Your Identity

Conflicts with corporate objectivesHow can you develop a brand that emphasizes CBC’s Core Values and benefits investors?

Too narrow focus (products vs. bank)Are your banking products the only thing that defines what you have to offer as a community bank?

Collaboration/execution with corporate and creativeHow can you best develop your identity while collaborating with the legal, compliance, marketing, web, and IT departments?


Who Are You?

Before you can develop and protect your brand, you need to determine what image you want to portray to your customers.

Some key questions to consider:a) Who are you? b) What do you do? c) Why does that matter?

Not only do you have to answer these questions about your bank, but your customers should equally be able to answer these questions through their experience with you. If they cannot verbalize what you stand for, your bank will not be memorable.

Your message should stay consistent over time to reinforce its place in your customers’ minds and thus develop a lasting relationship.


How to Develop Your Brand Make specific claims - Simply saying “you can trust us” makes you

suspect. Choose your words carefully and try using specific words to match your claims of how you can benefit your customer.

Back up those claims – show detailed product features and how they provide your customer a benefit.

Commit to your niche – If you want to portray your bank as a Quality Brand, then you would not want to brand yourself as the “value option.”

Hone Your Message and Look – Your collateral should support your brand image. Show that your bank is confident and consistent. A scattered look and message shows panic. Stick to your strategic and advertising plans.


How to Develop Your Brand

Every detail plays a role – In addition to your website and marketing collateral, your branding is communicated through your surroundings and furniture, telephone greetings, even your wardrobe or email signatures. Pay attention to the details.

The quality of your collateral is important – Collateral that is unprofessional conveys a low quality and low service image. Even on small marketing budgets, taking the time and effort to create clean and professional collateral can go a long way.


How to Protect Your Brand

Work with CBC’s Communications and Legal Departments to learn more on trademarks and protecting your brand

A trademark allows the seller to protect use and misuse by competitors and helps to prevent confusion in the market.

Examples of what can be trademarked: logos, names, tag lines

Be on top of logo, url, and tagline usage. Do not dilute logo with alternate versions. Approve and control all uses of logo by third-party vendors.


Developing Your Image

Answering these questions can help start determine the direction of what kind of brand image you want to portray to

your customers.

ARE YOU: a) Progressive b) Reliablec) Friendly

DO YOU PLAN TO:a) Charge more than your competitor, but add value in a different way b) Charge less than your competitorc) Charge the same, but add value in a different way



WHY ARE YOU IN THIS BUSINESS?a) You see a valuable market opportunity b) You know the industry like the back of your hand c) You love what you do and you’re good at it

WHAT BEST DESCRIBES THE HEAD OF YOUR BANK?a) Progressive/Risk-takerb) Reliable/Organizedc) Friendly and open-minded

WHAT KIND OF CUSTOMERS DO YOU WANT?a) Want the newest technologyb) Risk averse/conservativec) Value customer service above all



Please note: Below are some example results, but should not be considered the complete process of developing your brand image

If you answered mostly A - INNOVATIVEYou may consider that your bank portray a risk-taking image, with cutting edge technology and innovative products. Your messaging and collateral would be fast-paced, trendy, colorful, and would show movement.

Visual Examples of Innovative:



If you answered mostly B - TRADITIONALYou may prefer to convey an image of stability. By providing conservative, yet reliable products and services, your image shows customers you are trustworthy and dependable. Your messaging and collateral would consist of darker colors, sharp lines, formal writing and a clean, professional layout.

Visual Examples of Traditional:



If you answered mostly C - APPROACHABLEYour community bank most portrays the image of the friendly, neighborhood bank. Customers can expect service from potential friends and neighbors and every question will be handled with a warm smile. Your messaging and collateral would consist of earthy colors, curves, less formal script, and photos depicting everyday people.

Visual Examples of Approachable:



No matter what the brand image you feel best suits your bank, it is important to stay consistent!

CBC Marketing 2009 GoalsThe Marketing Department, in collaboration with the Web Team, is working diligently to create fresh, ready-to-use marketing collateral in 2009 that will accommodate the different branding options for your bank.


Keeping Your Marketing Collateral Consistent

Once you have determined your brand position and image, here are some helpful suggestions for keeping your message consistent and

memorable.

Color – Color plays a large role in memory retrieval. Not everything needs to match exactly, but marketing materials should be coordinated and should evoke similar emotional responses.

Key Graphics – repetition of graphic elements helps customers recall your brand faster. Reusing the same image in multiple ads and collateral is not bad! Remember, just because you see the same image over and over does not mean your customers do.

Fonts – To avoid a cluttered document, avoid using more than two different fonts.


Keeping Your Marketing Collateral Consistent

Messaging – Use the same voice on your materials. Be consistent whether you choose to use an informal or formal messaging style. Use your tagline consistently.

Logo usage – Use your logo on all communications. Never alter your logo! In advertising and marketing collateral, logos are most effective when placed in the same location at the same size. Try to maintain control of logo usage.

Stay the Course –Branding is about building trust and it takes time and consistency. From a customers’ perspective, it takes a lot of repetition before they begin to recognize your branding efforts.


Marketing Collateral Blunders Choosing low-quality paper stock – Economy paper may

save money, but it feels cheap. Touch is an important sense in memory recall. Work with your printer in determining what paper you should use for your collateral and request paper samples.

Using too much color and graphics – Your collateral shouldn’t scream to get attention. Avoid scaring customers with busy and unprofessional imagery


Marketing Collateral Blunders Making your logo gigantic – You may notice in advertisements the

bigger the company, the smaller the logo. While the logo features your name, it should not be the main focus in collateral – your customers are more interested in what you can provide for them. Instead of enlarging your logo for emphasis, employ white space around it to bring attention to it.

Filling up white space – White space brings focus to what’s important and gives the eye a rest. Too much text is overwhelming and chaotic, and will not be retained by your customer. Less is more!


Marketing Collateral Blunders Focusing only on product details – Customers are not concerned

with only product details, but rather how the product benefits them.

Copying competitors in the market – Your goal is to differentiate yourself in the market, not to blend in with everyone else.

Changing design styles with every piece – Clean, compelling and consistent makes you memorable.

Making decisions solely on personal preference – Just because you don’t like the color green doesn’t always mean it won’t be effective for your customers. Balancing personal preferences with objective strategy – your brand should reflect your personality, but it’s important to weigh in proven marketing suggestions and customer feedback.


Before & After Case Study

Challenge:Marketing collateral and website for Sunrise Bank of Arizona were not consistent, outdated and did not accurately reflect the personality and desired brand message of the bank.

Sunrise Bank of Arizona felt that their branding and marketing materials should be vibrant, progressive, and modern to best attract their target market.



Establishing Color and Layout:The marketing team provided a few color options that would reflect the bright and vibrant approach requested by the bank.

The bank was also provided with rough sketches of a possible layout. With further discussion and content development, the layout drafts would eventually be refined.



Results: Sunrise Bank of Arizona now has consistent collateral that speaks to their customers and is a refreshing change from local competitors.





POWERPOINT PRESENTATION VINYL BANNER

WEBSITE


Strong Brand = Loyal Customers Building a strong image will facilitate you in introducing additional products and services at a lower risk while enhancing your core brand.

You continue to build on your customer’s relationship and the attitude toward your brand. Attitude strength is built by the experiences they have with you and your products. This consumer’s awareness and associations lead to perceived quality and eventually brand loyalty.


CBC Communications & MarketingMuriel Neddermeyer

Marketing Manager (West)

Amy UngarMarketing Manager (East)

Angela KimberDirector of Communications

Niki VoyatzisGraphic Designer


Thank you for attending the School of Marketing and Communications.

Upon completing the last remaining class, you will receive a

Capitol University Marketing Certificate.

Economy & Finance

Branding presentation for Capitol Bancorp